Assessing patterns of household expenditures on recreation and culture in Turkey in 2003

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi, İktisat Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2008

Öğrenci: ARZU URAZ

Danışman: MELTEM DAYIOĞLU TAYFUR

Özet:

The rising importance of culture in social cohesion and economic development necessitates the analysis of cultural consumption from an economic point of view.This is important to understand household profiles which provide a certain typology on the socio-economic and demographic patterns of cultural consumption. In this thesis, we identify the households that spend on recreation and culture, the amount they spend and the potential factors that impact households’ recreation and culture expenditures in Turkey using the 2003 Household Budget Survey of the Turkish Statistical Institute. The results of a multivariate Tobit analyses suggest that total household expenditures, household size and its composition, age of household head and higher education level and place of residence are significant determinants of a household’s expenditures on recreation and culture in Turkey. Our results also indicate recreation and culture to be luxury goods with an estimated income elasticity of 1.55. The multivariate analyses also showed very different expenditure patterns among household residing in different regions of the country. While this result may indicate different tastes and preferences of households residing in different regions it may also be that the supply of cultural goods differ between regions. The impacts of education level together with the socioeconomic factors on household recreation and culture expenditures provide useful insights not only for the suppliers of recreational and cultural goods and services, but also for the policymakers who can influence household consumption behavior (that includes both participation and spending) through using both demand and supply-side instruments.